September 16, 2013 05:25 PM CDTSeptember 16, 2013 05:25 PM CDTGosselin: I'd be surprised if Texas Rangers play in October

Gosselin: I'd be surprised if Texas Rangers play in October

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Louis DeLuca/Staff Photographer

2. THE OFFENSE / The Rangers’ recent offensive woes have been well documented over the past two weeks, but has it really been that bad? Yes. In September, the Rangers have scored 44 runs in 14 games. That’s an average of 3.1 runs per game. Additionally, Texas has scored more than five runs just once during that stretch, a 9-8 loss to the Athletics on Friday. If you take away that nine-run outburst, Texas is averaging 2.8 runs per contest. On the bright side, the Rays have scored just two more runs than Texas in September, so expect some low-scoring games this week.

Columnist Rick Gosselin held a chat on Monday. Here are highlights from the chat.

What if any chances
do you see Rangers righting their sinking ship even as wild card?

I'm not optimistic. The Rangers can't score runs and I think
it's starting to wear on the morale of their pitchers. The starters realize
they have to pitch a shutout to win, so there is no margin for error. And the
Rangers spend the next week playing teams on the road in the wild card hunt, Tampa Bay
and Kansas City.
The only hitter the Rangers absolutely need to hit, Adrian Beltre, has belted
only one home run since Aug 23. I'd be surprised if this team plays on into
October.

The Garza trade looks like it backfired. He was supposed to
be an ace. Instead, he's been average -- and you gave up the best young
right-handed hitting power hitter in your farm system for him. This on a team
that needs to score runs. Washington has been
too loyal too long to David Murphy, and I'm not sure Chris Davis would have
done in Arlington what he is doing in Baltimore. I think he
needed a change of scenery. He isn't the first nor would he be the last to
flourish in new surroundings.

Hello, should Dave Magadan
be fired as TEX's
hitting coach?

If the Rangers miss the playoffs, I certainly would expect
some changes. Too bad Clint Hurdle is no longer available.

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